Second Sowetan apology to the ANC Limpopo worrying

7 September 2011

On 29 April 2011, the Sowetan published a story stating that the ANC Chairperson, Cde Cassel Mathale and ANCYL President, cde Julius Malema were rejected by communities during the local government elections` door-to-door campaign in GaMokgopo at Dikgale.

Sowetan newspaper has since apologised unconditionally for this disinformation. Their apology was published on page four of their 06 September 2011 edition.

As a gesture of goodwill on our part, we acknowledge the Sowetan apology as a good gesture of remorse. However, we are concerned about the long delay between the initial publishing date of the original article in question and the actual apology itself. The four-month long delay has been to the detriment of the ANC and our leaders.

We believe both the Ombudsman together with the Sowetan have prejudiced the ANC Limpopo as well as the Chairperson, Cde. Cassel Mathale and the ANCYL president, Cde. Julius Malema.

We are worried that it is the second time that the Sowetan has had to issue an apology and retraction emanating from malicious reporting by the same journalist (Frank Maponya) against the ANC and government leadership in Limpopo. This leads us to the conclusion that there is more to these occurrences than meets the eye.

We are also convinced that the apology on page four of Sowetan is not sufficient remedy for the ANC in Limpopo and therefore believe that Sowetan leadership should take further take more corrective measures to ensure fair and accurate reporting about the Limpopo. Otherwise, this will confirm our strong held view that the Sowetan newspaper through its journalist, Mr Frank Maponya is engaged in embedded and factionalist journalism to tarnish the image of the ANC and its provincial chairperson.

We humbly appeal to Sowetan newspaper`s management and editorial teams to look into this matter urgently and investigate the possible motives behind this consistent malicious reporting on the ANC provincial leadership.